A Different Future
by Lady Alianne
Summary: Rewritten by Lady Alianne and Elspeth25. The Marauders and Lily have finished reading the Harry Potter books. They have told Dumbledore about the Horcruxes and the future is now changed in a very big way. AU
1. Chapter 1

A/N: We, Lady Alianne and Elspeth25 are rewriting this fanfic. The one that was up before did not please us. Also, a reviewer pointed out that there was a similarity between the fic and another one. The similarity wasn't intentional, of course. However, we were not satisfied with the way things were going, so we're rewriting this.

Summary: The Marauders and Lily have read the Harry Potter series. They started changing the future by having Peter take an Unbreakable Vow to never join Voldemort or betray the Potters. Now they are in the process of doing other things to change the future.

Disclaimer for entire fic: We do not own the Harry Potter world. It belongs to J. K. Rowling.

Remus put down the piece of paper that had appeared after they had finished the last book, which was full of information of what happened to various people between Voldemort's defeat and the epilogue. "Well, that was interesting," he said.

"Yeah," said James. "I never realized that Dumbledore was into guys instead of girls."

"Well, what do we do now?" asked Sirius. "We've got all this knowledge. We know that unless things aren't changed, Remus and I will die, along with Dora, Hedwig, Mad-Eye Moody, Dobby, and some other good people. We've realized that Snape isn't so bad after all, and we know the location of all the Horcruxes. We know how Voldemort is defeated and how the world is a better place after that,"

"We tell Dumbledore what happens," said Lily firmly. "We have him read the books, and this way, the Horcruxes can be found and destroyed right now. Then Voldemort can be killed without having James and me die."

"That's a good idea," said Peter. "In fact, we could find Ravenclaw's tiara now and hand it to Dumbledore so he can destroy it. Since it's in this room."

They all left the Room of Requirement and thought about a place to hide things. When they returned, they began sorting through all the piles of things. Finally, Remus found the tiara. They wrapped it up and left the room.

The next day, the five of them presented the books to Dumbledore and explained things. "So these books somehow were sent back in time to you?" asked Dumbledore. "And you learned what's going to happen in the future, if it wasn't changed?"

"Yes," responded Remus. "Only the future is going to be changed now. When we read the third book, we discovered that Peter was persuaded to join Voldemort sometime after graduation. He then betrayed where Lily and James were living and faked his own death. Peter was horrified by this and willingly took an Unbreakable Vow to never do it."

Dumbledore raised his brows. "Oh dear, the future is definitely changed."

He flipped through the first book, but James said, "That one isn't that important. It's the sixth and seventh books that are really important. Voldemort has created Horcruxes. Two of them are destroyed in the sixth book, and my son Harry and his friends seek out and destroy the remaining ones in the seventh and final book."

Dumbledore looked up. "Really? Then that means we can find them and destroy them now. Then Voldemort would be defeated and everything would be fine again."

"The Horcruxes are Hufflepuff's cup, Ravenclaw's tiara, Slytherin's locket, a diary that Voldemort bought, and a ring which turned out to be one of the Deathly Hallows, the Resurrection Stone," said Lily. "There were two more in the books, but they were created later. One was Voldemort's snake Nagini, which was created many years after his defeat, and the other was Harry. That was accidental, though. When Voldemort tried to kill Harry as a baby, part of his soul got blasted off and entered Harry."

Dumbledore looked thoughtful. "Well, all we need to do is find the Horcruxes and destroy them. Where were they hidden?"

"The cup was hidden in Bellatrix Lestrange's Gringotts vault," answered Peter. "The tiara was hidden in the Room of Requirement at Hogwarts, along with a ton of other stuff that Hogwarts students had hidden. The locket was hidden in a cave that Voldemort had found on a trip to the seaside with the other kids from his orphanage. The diary was left with Lucius Malfoy, who then planted it on Ginny Weasley during Harry's second year. The diary then possessed Ginny and made her open the Chamber of Secrets and cause the basilisk there to Petrify Muggleborn students. And the Resurrection Stone was hidden in the house Voldemort's mother's family, the Gaunts, once lived in."

"However, I don't think you can look for the locket now," said Sirius. "It wasn't made and hidden until after my brother Regulus became a Death Eater, and as he's only a fourth year now, he's not one yet. The cup and diary may or may not have been left with the Lestranges and Malfoys at the moment. However, the tiara and Resurrection Stone can be destroyed now. In fact, we have the tiara with us now."

Dumbledore examined the tiara, then said, "I will destroy this Horcrux, then begin the search for the Resurrection Stone and destroy it. I will also read the books that have been given to you and see to the other Horcruxes. I ask you five to not mention anything you have read, at least for now. You may go."

When the holidays ended and term started again, Lily sought out Severus Snape. She told him that she forgave him for calling her 'mudblood' last year and asked him to be friends with her again, as long as he stopped being so friendly with people like Mulciber. Snape was perfectly willing to agree, for he did want to be friends with Lily again.

The Marauders also sought out Snape. They did nothing when Snape pulled out his wand, other than to put up their hands. "Wait," said James. "We don't want to fight."

Snape was surprised, but he didn't lower his wand. He kept it raised, a wary look on his face. "We want to apologize," said Sirius. "We're sorry for all the bullying we've done to you. And I am very sorry for telling you how to get past the Whomping Willow. You really didn't deserve any of it, even if you are in Slytherin."

"And I am sorry for not telling James and Sirius to stop bullying you," said Remus. "Well, I did sometimes ask them to stop, but I should have done so more often."

Snape stared at them. "Is this some sort of joke? Or a way to catch me off guard?"

"No!" exclaimed Peter. "We're really sorry for what we did. I shouldn't have egged Sirius and James on so often. Like with the incident after our Defense OWL."

"I know we can't exactly become friends, like you were with Lily," said James. "But we truly regret how we've tormented you for the past five and a half years and we humbly ask for your forgiveness. However, we will understand if you don't want to forgive us. We just hope you'll accept our sincere apology, and we promise to never bother you again during your remaining time at Hogwarts."

Snape nodded curtly. "Apology accepted. Though whether I forgive you or not depends on whether or not you hold to your promise to leave me alone." He strode away.

True to their promise, the Marauders left Snape alone for the remaining year-and-a-half they were at Hogwarts. Lily and Snape tried to resume their old friendship, but it didn't go so well. Snape wasn't pleased to find out that Lily had decided to go out with James. When he protested that she hated James, she said sharply, "Well, during the holidays, I saw a different side to him. He was charming and sweet and a concerned person."

"But I love you!" cried Snape. "I can't stand seeing you with James."

"Sev, you can never be more than a platonic friend to me," said Lily gently. "I love you as a friend, but not as a boyfriend or potential husband. I'm sorry."

After that, the friendship petered out. Snape kept his promise of not associating with people like Mulciber, however.

Dumbledore destroyed the tiara and Resurrection Stone. He didn't make the mistake of thinking of the ring as anything other than a Horcrux, and therefore the problem in the books was avoided. He had read all the books, and concluded that as there was no access to basilisk venom at the moment, he'd have to use Fiendfyre to destroy all the Horcruxes.

Sirius decided to become serious with Elizabeth Potter, who was James' first cousin once removed, rather than going from girl to girl. Being with Beth was good for Sirius, who calmed down a bit, though he still had his penchant for pranks.

By the time they all graduated, the diary and cup had been found and destroyed also. Now all that was left was the locket, if Voldemort wasn't killed before he could create it. James proposed to Lily and she said yes. Sirius proposed to Beth, who also said yes. A double wedding was planned for next June, with Remus and Peter as best men and Lily and Beth's friends Mary MacDonald and Alice (soon to be Longbottom) as bridesmaids. Everything was proceeding wonderfully.


	2. Chapter 2

In June, the double wedding was held. Lily and Beth were radiant brides and James and Sirius were handsome grooms, despite their nervousness. The entire Order was invited, plus Petunia and Vernon Dursley (who refused to attend), Lily's parents, and James's and Beth's parents. The ceremony was splendid and passed without any mishap.

The banquet was lovely as well, though Peter did trip and cause a plate of quiches to fall. After the cutting of the cake, Lily and Beth threw their bouquets. Alice caught Lily's. Nobody was really surprised by this, for Alice was to marry Frank Longbottom in July.

Nymphadora Tonks accidentally caught Beth's bouquet, however, and everyone was very surprised that the six-year old had done so. When her mother, Andromeda, said, "Well, that means you'll be the next bride after Alice, dear," Dora made a face.

"I don't want to be married," retorted Dora, her hair turning from pink to a dark blue.

There were many laughs and chuckles and Ted Tonks said, "You'll change your mind eventually, Dora dear. When you're grown up."

"Then I don't want to grow up," said Dora stubbornly. There was more laughter at this.

Sirius looked significantly at Remus, who turned scarlet. They remembered what the Harry Potter books said about Remus marrying Tonks.

After the honeymoon, which lasted for three weeks, Beth started feeling a little sick in the morning. A week later, a visit to a Healer confirmed that she was pregnant. She told Sirius and her friends about it two days later.

James leaned over to Lily and whispered, "Wow, they had a busy honeymoon."

Lily frowned and cuffed him on the arm. "James! You said that about Remus and Tonks when we got to the part in the seventh book about Tonks being pregnant. That was inappropriate then and it's inappropriate now."

Twins ran every other generation in Beth's mother's side of the family, and it looked as if Beth would be having twins. Sirius (once he got over his faint) was absolutely delighted with the fact that he was going to be a father.

At the end of November, Lily and Alice realized that they were pregnant as well. The prophecy about the child fated to defeat the Dark Lord was made, but with a small difference, and Sibyl Trelawney was hired as the Divination teacher.

On the first of March, at eight o'clock in the evening, Beth was hurried to St. Mungo's. She was given a bed next to Molly Weasley, who was in the middle of giving birth to her sixth son. An hour later, Ronald Bilius Weasley was born. Molly wished Beth good luck and then was sent to another room to tend to her new son.

It was an hour past midnight when Beth finally gave birth to a daughter. Six minutes later, the son followed. After some discussion, it was decided that the daughter would be named Katherine Elizabeth Black and the son named Kenneth Sirius Black, Katie and Kenny for short. Alice and Frank were named godparents.

On July 30th, Neville Frank Longbottom was born and Sirius and Beth were named as his godparents. A few hours later, Lily went into labor. Everyone was expecting a boy, like in the books, but to their utter surprise, a girl was born. They had been all set to name the child Harry James Potter, but now they couldn't. Finally Lily and James named their daughter Harmony Lily Potter and Sirius and Beth were named her godparents.

Dumbledore's theory was that since they had taken steps to change the future, things like the gender of the Potters' child had also changed. Lily and James didn't mind having a daughter and loved Harmony very much, but it did take some time to get over the shock. It took Sirius slightly longer to adjust to having a goddaughter instead of godson.

Since reading the first Harry Potter book, Lily and James had said they should become friends with the Weasleys, and they had done so. Beth and Sirius and Alice and Frank had done so as well. The four mothers got together once a week to discuss things like motherhood, and their children spent time together.

Around the time Molly realized that she was pregnant for a second time, Beth discovered that she was pregnant too. This time it didn't appear to be twins, however.

Several months later, Sirius intercepted Kreacher and got hold of the locket, promising the house elf that it would be destroyed. Fiendfyre took care of the matter and Sirius actually comforted Kreacher and told him that Regulus hadn't died in vain.

Horace Slughorn planned to retire as Potions teacher in a year or two, and Dumbledore paced his study, wondering if he should follow the books and hire Severus Snape. There really wasn't a need, however, for in this timeline, Snape had never become a Death Eater. In fact, Snape had achieved his mastery in Potions and was working with a Potions master in another country in Europe.

On August third, Beth gave birth to a daughter. She and Sirius named her Cordelia Felicity, Cordy for short, and Andromeda and Ted Tonks were named godparents. As time passed, however, Cordy proved to be a very happy baby and rarely cried. Felicity, which meant happiness, suited her better than Cordelia, so in the end she went by her middle name and was called Lissy for short.

On August twelfth, Molly gave birth to Ginevra Molly, the first girl to be born in the Weasley family for several generations. Naturally, the Weasleys were very pleased, and despite it being wartime, a small celebration was held.

Voldemort got wind of the celebration and decided to attack it. However, he received a nasty shock. Order members were present and fought back. Peter Pettigrew and Marlene McKinnon were killed, but they were the only causalities on the Light side. Two Death Eaters were killed and remaining were captured. Voldemort went after the Potters and Longbottoms, as one of his Death Eaters had told him part of the prophecy.

In the midst of the fighting, Harmony and Neville toddled over to one another and held hands. A blue glow surrounded them. Voldemort spotted the glow and turned on them, but their parents jumped in front of them. "You will not harm our children, _Moldywart_!" said James harshly. "You will have to kill us first."

The other three nodded their agreement, perfectly willing to sacrifice themselves to save Harmony and Neville. Voldemort did not want to kill the parents, at least not until after they had watched their children die. So with a curse, he blasted them to one side. "NO!" cried Alice and Lily at the same time. "Take us!"

Voldemort ignored them and shouted, "_Avada Kedavra!_" With the combination of the parents' willingness to sacrifice themselves and the blue glow surrounding the children, the Killing Curse merely bounced off, leaving a lightning-bolt scar on the left side of Neville's forehead and a crescent-shaped scar on the right side of Harmony's.

"Oh, your Horcruxes have all been destroyed!" shouted James cheerfully as the deflected curse headed for Voldemort. The Dark Lord's head turned in James's direction, eyes wide with shock. A second later, the Killing Curse hit him in the chest. Without any Horcruxes, Voldemort fell to the ground, dead.

Once everything was cleaned up, Harmony and Neville became famous as the children that had defeated Voldemort. Remaining Death Eaters were rounded up in the next few months. Everything appeared to be perfect, or almost perfect, in the wizarding world.


	3. Chapter 3

On November 18th, Lily gave birth to a son that was named Harry James Potter. After some deliberation, it was decided that Albus Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall would be Harry's godparents. The two professors were pleased with the honor and happy to be godparents.

The Black, Longbottom, and Potter families seemed as if they were determined to give the Weasley family competiton in the way of children, because more followed in the next four years. On April 17th, 1982 Frank and Alice had twin girls, Allison Jadina and Sarah Augusta. Lily and James had twin boys, Jacob Paul and Joshua Peter, on February 9th, 1983. Beth and Sirius had a son, Christopher Regulus, on September 1st, 1983. Finally, Lily and James had a daughter named Madeleine Rose on October 26th, 1984 and Frank and Alice had a son named Ryan Tobias on January 30th, 1985.

With the way that the children of the three families, along with the Weasley and Lovegood families, played together frequently, the parents all said that it was inevitable that the families would someday intermarry.

* * *

(Fast forward to the summer of 1991)

Harmony, Ron, Katie, Kenny, Neville, Ginny, and Lissy were in the back yard of the Potter house, playing a game of Quidditch. Ron was Keeper, Kenny and Neville Beaters, Ginny, Lissy, and Katie Chasers, and Harmony was Seeker. Luna was watching them, for she wasn't very good at Quidditch and preferred to watch. Harry, Ally, and Sarah, were playing a game of Gobstones. Jake, Josh, and Chris were up in the tree house, pretending to be pirates. Maddie had gotten out her dolls and stuffed animals and had talked Ryan to having a tea party with her. Ryan would have much rather pretended to be a pirate, but Jake and Josh were eight and Chris almost eight and they didn't want someone they still considered a 'baby' to join them. As Maddie was the only kid he knew that was his age, Ryan was stuck playing with her.

After an hour, Harmony caught the modififed version of the Snitch (it didn't have a flesh memory and would only fly around the back yard). The game ended then and the seven kids went inside to get something to drink. Mrs. Potter had lemonade waiting for them.

"Thank you, Mum," said Harmony.

"Yeah, thanks, Aunt Lily," said Kenny. The others echoed their thanks.

When the kids were done drinking the lemonade, they went upstairs. That morning, the Hogwarts letters had arrived. Ginny and Lissy were jealous that they had to wait another year to be able to attend. If Luna was jealous, she didn't show it, though she did comment wistfully that it would be nice to attend Hogwarts.

"This sucks," said Lissy for the third time that day. "I wish I was eleven and could attend Hogwarts."

"We'll write to you often," said Katie. "We'll tell you everything about our year and it'll be like you're there."

"It's not the same," said Ginny. "Who's going to play Quidditch with me and Lissy? Luna's only interested in watching. Harry can play, but Ally and Sarah are only good at flying, not at playing Quidditch. Maddie and Ryan are too young, and anyway, Maddie perfers playing house and having tea parties and making Ryan join her. And the triplets only like to do things with each other."

The others nodded. It was true that Jake, Josh, and Chris liked spending time with each other and were practically inseparable. Though they weren't really triplets, the others had taken to referring to them as that because they were always together.

Ron said in a look-on-the-bright-side tone of voice, "But with us at Hogwarts, you three girls will be the oldest kids and you can boss the others around. There's that."

Ginny gave her brother a withering look that said clearly that it wasn't much comfort. Lissy snapped, "You know perfectly well that you can't really boss the others. Every time you guys tried, the triplets played a prank on you. Harry ignored you and Ally and Sarah just stuck out their tongues and then went off to tell the parents. And Maddie and Ryan threw temper tantrums."

Kenny sighed and said, "It's only for a year. After that, you'll get your Hogwarts letters and join us."

"The three of you are best friends," pointed out Harmony. "You'll be together and have fun on your own."

Luna brightened. "We can go looking for Nargles! And invent a device to get rid of Wrackspurts."

Ginny and Lissy exchanged looks. They loved Luna as a friend, and enjoyed hanging out with her, but spending time looking for imaginary creatures was not something they wanted to do. Much of the time she was like most people, but every so often she would talk about the creatures her family believed existed or mention the weird theories her father's magazine printed.

"Um, I don't think there are any mistletoe growing nearby, so it might be difficult to find any Nargles," said Lissy after a moment of silence.

"I can't wait for when we go to Diagon Alley on Tuesday," said Neville, changing the subject. "That's the thirty-first, isn't it? The day after my birthday and the day of Harmony's birthday."

Harmony nodded. "Mum and Dad rented out a large room in the Leaky Cauldron and we get to celebrate my birthday there after we get our school supplies."

"What do you want for your birthday, Mony?" asked Ron. "I can't think of a good present for you."

"How about you stop calling me 'Mony'?" suggested Harmony. "Just because you couldn't say 'Harmony' when you were two and shortened it to 'Mony' doesn't mean you can still keep calling me that, Ronald."

"It's better than if I shortened it to 'Har' or 'Harm'," retorted Ron. "And don't call me Ronald."

"All right, but don't call me 'Mony' anymore, Ron. For a present, why don't you get me a book? Or a Quidditch related item?"

"What about you, Nev?" asked Ron. "What do you want for your birthday?"

"First, don't call me 'Nev' like you did when you were two," answered Neville. "Second, get me something to do with plants."

Ally knocked on the door, then came in. "It's dinnertime, Neville, so we've got to go home. And Aunt Molly's here to take you and Ginny home, Ron. So is Uncle Sirius to pick up Katie, Kenny, and Lissy. Chris is going to spend the night here, though. And Uncle Phil said you're due home as well, Luna."

Harmony rolled her eyes. Since her twin brothers and Chris were so inseparable, they ended up sleeping at each other's houses most of the time. Chris had some clothes and things at the Potter house, while Jake and Josh had some stuff at the Black house. The parents sometimes joked that the three kids had two sets of parents. Since Aunt Beth and Uncle Sirius were Jake and Josh's godparents and Harmony's parents were Chris's godparents, it was almost true.

The other kids bid Harmony good-bye and left. A few minutes later, Lily Potter called the kids for dinner. Harmony and Harry set the table and then the Potters and Chris sat down to eat.

Authors' Notes: Uncle Phil is Luna's father. The 'Phil' is short for Xenophilius. We were originally going to use Xeno, but then we decided that 'Phil' wouldn't sound so weird. Sorry if the chapter is a little short or not very interesting. We promise to make the next chapters more interesting. If you have any ideas for this fic, please send us a PM or include it in a review. Thank you. Lady Alianne and Elspeth25.


	4. Chapter 4

The thirty-first arrived and it was time for the trip to Hogwarts. A Muggleborn girl named Hermione Granger and her parents would be joining them, for Professor Dumbledore had asked Lily Potter to introduce the Grangers to the Wizarding world. James and Lily had exchanged looks after receiving the request. They remembered the books and wondered if Dumbledore had done this so that Hermione could become friends with the other kids. Well, if it happened, then there would be an equal number of boys and girls in Harmony's year-group. On the other hand, Lily was the Potions professor, and a staff member always was sent to explain things to Muggleborn students.

Hermione looked awed when she first saw Diagon Alley and Harmony and Katie took it upon themselves to explain everything. When the two discovered that Hermione loved books as much as they did, the three became instant friends. Unlike Hermione, however, Harmony and Katie weren't that serious about schoolwork and studying, though they weren't slackers either.

At Flourish and Blotts, Hermione wanted to get a number of extra books for background reading, but her parents set a five-book limit. She was disappointed until Neville suggested that the others also get a couple of extra books each and lend them to her at Hogwarts. Katie also added that Hogwarts had a large library and they could check out books.

Ron frowned slightly when Neville suggested buying extra books, but didn't say anything. He counted the pocket-money he had saved and then picked out a secondhand book, for he couldn't afford a new one. He looked very uncomfortable as he paid for the book. Harmony saw the look and felt sympathetic. While Mr. Weasley had a fairly decent salary from his job in Muggle Relations, the Weasley family was big and therefore not much money could be spared for unnecessary items. Things had gotten better since Charlie and Bill had graduated and got jobs of their own, but money was still a little tight.

The kids paused outside of Quality Quidditch Supplies and gazed at the Nimbus Two Thousand, the fastest broom that was out so far. Ron and Harmony explained Quidditch to Hermione and Kenny said he'd lend her his copy of _Quidditch Through the Ages_. Chris said wistfully that he wanted the Nimbus and Jake and Josh then said they wanted it as well. Their parents reminded them that they were too young and besides, they had perfectly good Comet Two Sixtys. The 'triplets' pouted and said they wished they were eleven, because Neville had gotten the Nimbus from his parents yesterday for a birthday present.

Getting wands at Ollivander's Wand shop took some time. Hermione found her wand (vine wood, dragon heartstring core) fairly quickly. However, it took longer for Katie. To save time, Kenny and Harmony tried the wands she discarded, but it look a long time for them as well. Katie felt as if she had tried at least a hundred wands before the perfect one choose her. It was ash, unicorn hair core, and twelve inches. After that, Kenny found his wand. It was ash, phoenix core, and twelve inches as well. Ron began trying wands and found his, which was ash, unicorn hair, and fourteen inches.

Harmony must have tried every wand in the shop before she found the perfect wand, holly, phoenix feather, eleven inches. Neville's wand was holly, dragon heartstring core, and eleven and-a-half inches.

After paying for the wands, the shopping was done. Everyone went to the Leaky Cauldron for Harmony's birthday party (even Hermione, who'd been invited). They went into a large room that had been reserved for the party, which was decorated in a Quidditch theme. After some games were cake, ice cream, and presents.

Harmony gave a sigh when she saw the pile of twenty-five wrapped presents. It would take awhile to open them, unless she asked her friends to help. Having a large family and several 'aunts' and 'uncles' with at least four children of their own (besides the Lovegoods) meant that she always got around twenty-five presents for her birthday and Christmas (at least since Maddie and Ryan turned three and were old enough to give presents). That was great, but sometimes she found it annoying having to open them all. The other kids also got as many presents when it was their birthdays, so they also had to deal with opening lots of presents.

Harmony finshed her cake and ice cream and then got started on opening her presents. She asked her friends to help her open them. The first thing she unwrapped was a Nimbus Two Thousand from her father. Next was a gold chain with a pendant in the shape of a musical note from her mother. Ron, Neville, and Hermione had gotten her a book each. Katie's present was a box of stationary and Kenny's a photo album. Her brother Harry had gotten her a new chess set. The triplets together had gotten a camera, two rolls of film, and a flask of the potion that would make the photos move. Maddie's present was a stuffed bear wearing a pink dress. Harmony wasn't exactly thrilled with this, but her sister was six and would give a present that was babyish.

Ginny and Lissy gave her a charm bracelet and Luna had gotten her a pair of earrings made in the shape of Snitches. Ryan's present, a toy fire truck, was more suited for a little kid like Maddie's was. Ally and Sarah had gotten Harmony a book each. Fred and George had gotten her trick sweets and Percy's present was a box of sweets. Bill and Charlie had sent presents as well. Charlie's was a book on dragons and Bill's was an amber pendant with a scarab beetle in it. Aunt Molly and Uncle Arthur gave her a pale green scarf and a matching green hat. Aunt Beth and Uncle Sirius had gotten her a journal and a box of prank items. Uncle Frank and Aunt Alice had gotten her a set of red dress robes, with matching shoes and gloves. Uncle Phil's present was a four month's subscription of _The Quibbler_ and a box of Chocolate Frogs. Uncle Remus's present was a snowy owl.

Harmony named the owl Melody at once. Since the owl was going to her pet companion, she felt that the owl needed a name that was related to hers. Melody hooted and seemed to like the name.

Harmony thanked everyone and then her parents magically sent the presents home. After that, the party broke up and everyone went home. Before they left, though, Hermione gave out her address as well as phone number so the others could contact her. The Potters and Blacks had phones as well, so Harmony and the Black twins gave Hermione their phone numbers too.

August passed quickly. Melody, Ron's owl Pig, Neville's owl Trevor, and Katie and Kenny's owl Athena went out many times with letters for Hermione and returned with her replies. Also, several phone calls were made, but not as many as the letters because none of the kids wanted to cause their parents to have a higher phone bill.

Harmony read through all her schoolbooks, which she found fascinating. She couldn't wait to actually get to Hogwarts and learn magic (the couple of spells Uncle Sirius secretly taught her didn't really count). She also wanted to brew her own potions, not just helping her mother with them. Her mother was the Potions teacher at Hogwarts, and Uncle Remus was the Defense Against Dark Arts teacher, with either her father or Uncle Frank substituting on full moon days. Harmony wondered what it would be like having them as her teachers. All she knew was that they weren't going to favor her or her friends. She also wondered about the other teachers. As her mother was a staff member, Harmony and her friends had gotten to know the other teachers and liked most of them. However, the teachers couldn't show any favoritism, so classes with them would be different. She reminded herself that she had to call the teachers "Professor" and not 'aunt' or 'uncle' like she had done in the past.

Finally September the first arrived and it was time to leave for Hogwarts.

Authors' Note: Ron's owl was a present from Lily and James for his 11th birthday. Before he could come up with a name, Ginny came up with Pigwidgeon, like in the books. We also figured that no matter what pet Neville got, he'd name it Trevor, so long as the animal in question was male. We hope you don't mind that Lily became the Potions teacher after Slughorn's retirement. It's just that after Snape achieved his mastery, he went off to work in a famous Potions institute on the Continent. Since Lily's the only other adult character mentioned as being proficient in Potions, she would be the natural replacement. The curse on the Defense post is gone with Voldemort's death, so Remus took the job. Because of all the changes, we felt that Arthur Weasley would have a better job (though still connected with Muggles). However, since his family is big, while they can buy new things, it is mainly limited to the necessities.


End file.
